Frank Speak: Now Is the Time
by Frank McCann, CSJP-A
In scripture a Kairos time means an appointed time, an opportune moment, or a due season. Be prepared for God to act!
I believe that after the most recent school shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida we are presented with a Kairos moment to affect real change in the ways guns are sold, carried and used in this country.
The amazingly articulate young people who survived the shooting were baptized in the blood of their schoolmates and teachers. They have accepted their mission to make change happen. They have the insights and the skills to know how to go about the task.
They inspire. Many of us were lifted from our grief over the loss of 17 more young lives by our amazement at the impassioned and articulate orations of so many of the survivors. In truth, they are young people who have had educational opportunities in their affluent school that many other districts have had to cut. The school system boasts a “system-wide debate program that teaches extemporaneous speaking from an early age.” Given those gifts and talents, and after their horrifying experience, they can be truthful, knowledgeable and articulate spokespersons for changes that need to happen.
After witnessing a legislative defeat in the Florida legislature just days after the shooting, 17 year-old student Delaney Tarr laid out their demands:
We want gun reform. We want common-sense gun laws. We want stronger mental-health checks and background checks to work in conjunction. We want a better age limit. We want privatized selling to be completely reformed so you can’t just walk into a building with $130 and walk out with an AR-15.
Our embrace of nonviolence, our quest for peace and life in a beloved community stands in clear opposition to the greed-inspired, fear-inducing rhetoric of the National Rifle Association (NRA), its plan to inject even more guns into our schools, and its current leadership. You can appreciate how radical the NRA’s messages are now as a growing number of businesses are cutting ties with the gun lobby. Some gun retailers have also put in place their own restrictions, refusing to sell arms to those under 21 and barring the sales of assault rifles.
Now is the time to act. Congress is hesitating again, but part of my belief that this is a Kairos moment is that many of the NRA backed GOP legislators are in very vulnerable positions with elections upcoming in November. The current resident of the Oval Office is one reason, but opposition party voters are engaged and even enraged at the lack of action on gun measures among others. Let me be clear, as clear as the students made it. Any legislator of either party who accepts money from the NRA is targeted for replacement in the legislatures.
The expanding movement inspired by these young voices is one worthy of our support. I would suggest the following steps:
Continue to follow the March For Our Lives movement after the march.
Find out whether or not your representatives accept money from the NRA. If so, ask them to return those funds; if not, ask them to commit to refusing any NRA offers.
Join (and support) a group that is working on gun reform, such as:
a. Brady Campaign: bradycampaign.org
b. Everytown for Gun Safety: everytown.org
c. Moms Demand Action: momsdemandaction.org
d. Sandy Hook Promise: sandyhookpromise.org.Vote for candidates who support reasonable gun control measures.
Bring your principles of nonviolence to all meetings and marches.
The last point is important and often missed. It is easy to demonize the NRA and its members. That is not helpful in building a beloved community. Our communication with the NRA members and with legislators who accept money from the NRA should have as a goal winning them over to a new way of thinking. Even though many of us would like to see guns eliminated altogether, insisting on that will only confirm the fear being preached by NRA leadership.
A poster that hangs in my office pictures an overcrowded boat of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea. The caption reads, “The only thing stronger than fear is hope.” The youth of Parkland have provided us with hope for real change. Our cooperation in their work will bring it to reality. The time is now.
This article appeared in the Spring 2018 issue of Living Peace.